Weaning is one of the critical times for measuring how ewes are doing.
For one Canterbury farmer that’s a hands-on exercise. Paul Ensor of Glenaan Station in the Rakaia Gorge has introduced regular condition scoring of his Merino ewes – and it’s paying off.
Condition scoring is a measure of an animal’s condition, regardless of size and weight. “It’s a lot more accurate,” says Paul. At Glenaan they’re condition scoring three times a year: at weaning, pre-mating and shearing.
“We used to draft off light ewes by eye at weaning. Now we’re condition-scoring by hand. We put them up the race and draft as we go. We can do 6-800 an hour.”
Using that information, they’ve been able to re-prioritise feed – giving more to lighter ewes and pulling back on heavier ones. This is particularly crucial after weaning, in the lead-up to mating.
And it’s getting results. “Without increasing the total amount of feed being offered, we’ve been able to lift our scanning percentage by 15%.That’s worth about $6.75 extra per ewe in weaned lambs.”
Paul has some very good evidence of the relationships between the condition of Glenaan ewes and their productivity and profitability. For the previous two seasons, he ran a trial where he noted individual ewes' scores against their EID tags. Using software to analyse the results gave him a very useful insight into the linkages between animal condition and production outcomes like conception, lamb survival and fleece value.
He knows that on Glenaan, for example, the return for lifting a ewe’s condition is 35c per kg dry matter and up to 40c for some mobs. This compares well with finishing lambs, which were returning about half that at around 18 to 20c a kg DM.
He was also very interested to see if the Glenaan ewes turning up in the light mob were “repeat offenders”, but it turned out that most were not – so he knows it's worth giving a light ewe another chance.
Now he’s pulled back to the more business-as-usual measuring – starting at weaning time. “That weaning measurement will set us up for the next production season.”
To find out more about the tool Glenaan are using for analysing ewe condition and performance, click here…
